Wall Street is once again rallying around Apple. The Mac maker defied the recession with earnings growth in its fiscal second quarter, and the news boosted Apple’s stock.
Apple posted revenue of $8.16 billion and a net quarterly profit of $1.21 billion, or $1.33 per diluted share, for the quarter. That compares to revenue of $7.51 billion and net quarterly profit of $1.05 billion, or $1.16 per diluted share, in the year-ago quarter. Apple’s gross margin was 36.4 percent, up from 32.9 percent in the year-ago quarter. International sales accounted for 46 percent of the quarter’s revenue.
“We are extremely pleased to report the best non-holiday quarter revenue and earnings in our history,” said Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer. “Apple’s financial condition remains very robust, with almost $29 billion in cash and marketable securities on our balance sheet. Looking ahead to the third fiscal quarter of 2009, we expect revenue in the range of about $7.7 billion to $7.9 billion, and we expect diluted earnings per share in the range of about 95 cents to $1.”
The iPhone Impact
The only chink in Apple’s armor was in the PC sector. Apple sold 2.22 million Macintosh computers during the quarter, a three percent decline from the year-ago quarter. Its non-CPU products continue to show strength. Apple sold more than 11 million iPods for three percent growth. Quarterly iPhone sales were 3.79 million for 123 percent growth.
Apple’s fiscal second quarter earnings reflect the company’s ability to effectively anticipate consumer demand and evolve to meet that demand, according to Tim Deal, a senior analyst at Pike & Fischer.
“Over the past eight years, Apple has steadily diversified its product portfolio in order to capitalize off of — and in some cases drive — consumer trends. The iPhone represents the most recent ‘beyond the box’ product in the company’s offering…